Was I out of order for driving into the petrol pump in front rather than waiting?

[HappyPinkHare]

AITA? Just want to get everyone’s opinions on petrol forecourt / station etiquette in the uk. Two petrol pumps are placed one in front of the other, in single lanes, so if someone is in front of you refuelling, you can’t drive past them (you either have to wait or reverse). When I drove into the forecourt, a black car was in pump 1, still filling up and pump 2 (in front of them was free). So I drove up the other lanes and reversed in front of them into pump 2. I got out, opened my petrol cap, paid using my credit card a pin and lifted the nozzle. At that point, the lady came out of her car aggressively and told me to move out of the way so they could drive off the forecourt as they were in a hurry. If I was still in my car, I probably would have moved, but as I was already about to refuel, I asked why she didn’t reverse and go down the other lanes. It basically got out of hand and she was knocking the hose in my hand to stop me from refuelling and screaming saying “are you going to pour petrol on me?” Anyway, after lots of swearing and aggression (from both husband and wife) and me passively refusing to move, they ended up reversing (just one car length by the way) and leaving via the route I had suggested originally. It got me thinking that what I did (reverse into pump 2) was maybe wrong because why were they so angry, was i out of order?

Completely normal. Unhinged is an accurate description of anyone trying to assault you in a petrol station.

Using the pumps with the hose stretched because your tank is at the other side is dangerous @CheeseCakeSunflowers @NetballHoop Don't you drive?

Thank you. I guess it’s good to see the other side. They must have been very angry due to their reaction so I agree there must be people that would find this annoying. I just wonder what the “major consensus” is.

If they were unable to get past then you are unreasonable. I do jump to the pump in front if if is free but only if the person behind is able to drive around me ( most petrol stations have room to do this).
They did overreact but it sounds like they needed to be somewhere urgently.

Why is it dangerous? They are literally designed for that purpose. That's why they're so long.

They're crazy. If there are two pumps in one lane, they're clearly meant to be used by two people at the same time - which means that you have to expect that you may have to wait a couple of minutes for the car in front to finish, pay and move away.

Either there was already a car in front of them when they used the pump behind - so they'd have to wait for them to finish; or if the pump at the front was empty, they should have gone straight to the front one and used that one.

If you'd parked up and then gone to the shop to do a week's food shopping before paying for your fuel, I'd understand their annoyance; but you didn't.

If they were in such a rush, maybe they should have filled up their car a day/few days beforehand and not had to stop off at the petrol station on their hectic day at all.

You did a completely normal and practical
thing! Anyone who doesn’t see this is probably a bad driver so isn’t capable of
doing what you did. Report to incident to police though!! Her AND her husband getting involved assaulting you amd verbally threatening you is not on! The cctv from the garage will show what they did

No it isn't dangerous. Almost every petrol station has lon hoses specifically to allow you to do this. Driving past a free pump to then reverse in to block another driver is dangerous and very unreasonable.

I think if you’re stretching it then it’s dangerous. But all the petrol stations near me have signs saying “extra long hoses. Use both sides”. I assumed most petrol stations were like that now. In those cases it’s not dangerous

They were still fuelling when I did it. If he looked anywhere near ready I wouldn’t have to be honest but they were both out of the car and looked like they were faffing about

Reversing into pumps is very common here. There are clearly more cars with the tank at one side rather than the other as one side of pumps is usually free in the mid section of places that have pumps at both sides.

They weren't reversing into another car fgs

They are batshit, you were right
I don't stretch the hoses round because they often pick up gravel and dirt which scratches.

It sounds like a skill issue on her part, at least it was all on camera if needed

They couldn’t get round me, it was single lane, but they could have reversed. I know it’s a bit of a faff but I did it because I knew they wouldn’t have been blocked in. If they were blocked in by me, I do get that would be out of order.

I do it all the time. It’s efficient and keeps queues down. They were stupid idiots. I bet they rant their way through life. Don’t give them another thought.

It's not dangerous as long as it will reach sufficiently for you to put the pump/trigger bit fully into the tank opening. It's a bit dicey if you have to place it on the edge of the opening and you can actually see the fuel.

They tend to stretch enough to reach the 'wrong' side for most cars; but if you have a tall car or van, sometimes they just don't, however well/closely you position your vehicle next to the pump.

The forecourt was very clear, it was at ASDA at 7am this morning

They were probably a bit miffed and thought you could have used one of the free pumps rather than stop them being able to pull straight out. I'd probably have been a bit annoyed. Mildly irritating but like you say you needed the pump on the other side. They probably didn't realise this but based on their reaction, I doubt they would have cared.

Their reaction was completely out of proportion for being very very mildly inconvenienced.

I hate these situations where people cause you go feel really really uncomfortable for no real reason. Try to put it out of your mind. You didn't do anything worthy of being treated like this

Perfectly fine. People do it all the time in our local garage.

YABU
Most modern petrol stations have long hoses so it doesn’t matter which side you drive up to. The hose will get to your car no problem at all.
you should’ve used those.

it’s unreasonable to leave all of those pumps free and to pull to a pump in front of another car -unless that car can easily drive around you.
this doesn’t excuse their behaviour though.

See I think differently. They couldn't reverse because of other customers starting to (correctly) come in and queue behind them. They'd be in danger of backing into someone driving in. I honestly think you were wrong if you drove in the exit, backed in and thus blocked them.

I'd have been annoyed. If we all did that then they'd be chaos and an accident. The one way system is in place for a reason.

And if you want to know whether you were right or wrong, ask the garage itself rather than mumsnet.

It sounds like they had finished and were ready to go within a couple of minutes of you turning up. Are you so busy in life you can’t take a couple of minutes waiting?

You blocked them in, knowingly, because you believed your time is more valuable than theirs.

The altercation seems highly unusual, mostly people will just make faces or hit the horn, but you could easily have avoided it if you’d just waited a minute or two, or stretched the hose if you really didn’t want to wait.

And to be honest, if they had come up to me at the point I was parking and asked me to move immediately, I would have (despite their aggression) but she only approached as the nozzle was about to go in and stood in my way knocking the petrol hose.

If they were in a hurry they had the option of reversing and driving through a different lane. They’re batshit.

Report her to the petrol station if she was knocking the hose out your hands and spilling petrol everywhere? Surely that's nuts.

That's infuriating I don't know how you didn't push her away or call for assistance from the station staff.
Also it's AIBU not AITA that's reddit lingo

Yes apparently they had a funeral to get to at 7am and wearing ripped jeans and an old sweatshirt..?

Petrol stations are high risk areas no one should be performing unnecessary manoeuvres to counteract the safe one way system.

Your options were to wait in the one way system, or stretch the slightly awkward long hose across your car.

They were unreasonable to get so worked up, but obviously we weren’t there so don’t know how much you wound them up with your behaviour and lack of awareness.